Michelin will re-up as Las Vegas PGA event sponsor

Adam Candee

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.

The Michelin Man is just about ready to park his tires outside the TPC at Summerlin for another two years.

Barring last-minute complications, Michelin will pick up its two-year option to continue as the title sponsor of Las Vegas' stop on the PGA tour through 2006, sources close to the negotiation confirmed Wednesday. Terms of the deal are not yet available.

Reached late Wednesday, tournament chairman John Sullivan would not confirm that a deal is in place, but did indicate that the discussion was moving in the right direction.

"We are very hopeful that we will have positive news from Michelin within the next week to 10 days," Sullivan said.

The tire company stepped in about a month before this year's event and agreed to a cut-rate deal to sponsor the 2004 tournament with an option to return in 2005 and 2006. The tournament name was changed from the Las Vegas Invitational to the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas.

It marked Michelin's first venture into golf sponsorship -- the company is heavily involved in auto racing -- and company officials would not agree to a longer deal before they evaluated the return on their investment from the first year. Released last month, the tour's 2005 schedule referred to the tournament only as "The Championship at Las Vegas."

Michelin could provide constancy to a historically unstable tournament hampered by its late-season date. Invensys ended its three-year title sponsorship after the 2002 event, forcing the Las Vegas Founders, who operate the tournament, to put up the $4 million purse in 2003.

Sullivan, tournament director Charlie Baron and Founders president Gary Frey searched for money in vain for months after announcing that without a new title sponsor, the LVI would not run in 2004. When the PGA Tournament first released its 2004 schedule, it listed the second weekend in October, traditionally Las Vegas' dates, as "TBD."

That prompted Bay Area widow Helen Morton, whose late husband enjoyed playing in the pro-am format, to offer a three-year, $5 million donation to partially underwrite the event through 2006.

With two years left on her commitment and a likely two-year deal coming from Michelin, the Founders will run the tournament without concern about its immediate future for the first time since 2001.

Last year, the Founders reduced the tournament from 90 to 72 holes, a change roundly applauded by the players. While the change was made for one year to accommodate players making the trip back from Ireland the previous week, tour officials have long wanted to permanently reduce the length of the event and scale it back from three to two courses.

TPC at Summerlin is traditionally the host course and the final round is always played there. TPC at the Canyons and Bear's Best filled out last year's course rotation.